Wick type liquid fuel burner



Feb. 6, 1951 'w. B. ENGH ETAL 2,540,719

WICK TYPE LIQUID FUEL BURNER Original Filed Dec. 21, 1945 s sheets-sheet 2 3 I WALTEE B. ENGH COETLANDWDAV/S Feb. 6, 1951 w. B. E-H ETAL 2,540,719

WICK TYPE LIQUID F'UEL BURNER Original Filed Dec. 21, 1945 3 Sheet-Sheet s //v w: N T025 .1144 TEE 5. Elven (301271. AND W DAV/s.

BY MW Agavr Patented Feb. 6 19 51 WICK TYPE LIQUID FUEL BURNER Walter B. Engh, Alexandria, and Cortland W- Davis, Summitville, Ind assigiiors to Aladdin Industries, Illinois Incorporated, a corporation of Original application December 21 1945, Serial No. 636,537. Divided and this application September 8, 1947, Serial N0. 772,608

This is a divisional application of parent appl'ication Serial No. 636,537, filed December 21, 1945, disclosing an improved stove structure adapted to space heating and also an improved burner structure for effectively burning heavy 2 Claims. (Cl. 158-434) thereof to complete the cone and provide an inner liquid fuel such as kerosene'and the like, to heat said stove. The claims of said parent application are now restricted to said stove structure and the parts required to effectively operate it, and the claims of the present application are limited to said burner structure andthe parts required to secure its effective operation.

The stove structure of said parent application includes a tubular casing of sheet metal which is in a vertical position when in use, which casing is mounted above a fuel reservoir provided with a burner of the tubular wick type for effectively burning the liquid fuel used. The casing is preferably connected withthe reservoir by means of a horizontal pivot or hinge, at one edge of the lower end of the casing, so that the casing may be moved to a horizontal position to cleanthe burner and wick and to facilitate lighting the stove. This position of the casing also facilitates replacement of the wick when necessary.

The burner construction of the present application is provided with a central air passage extending vertically through the fuel reservoir to opening above the wick having a diameter of the size required to properly supply outer air to the vaporized fuel with a velocity to penetrate the vaporized fuel and mix therewith and to at the same time provide the proper quantity of outer air in conjunction with the inner air supplied to the vaporized fuel, to completely burn the carbonaceous matter in the liquid fuel. The upper portion of the burner cone is loosely carried by the stove casing, and is provided with an annular offset portion registering with and fitting a sim ilar portion on the lower part of the burner cone,

supply the inner air to the vaporized fuel that is required for the burning of the fuel, and a burner cone is provided for directing outer air against the vaporized fuel arising from the wick with sufficient velocity and in proper amount to penetrate and mix with the vaporized fuel and supply the air required in conjunction with the inner air, to completely burn all of the carbonaceous matter in the liquid fuel, so that the flame produced by the burner will not be a yellow flame indicating the presence of unburned carbonaceous matter, but will, on the other hand, he a purple or bluish flame showing complete combustion as far as the carbonaceous matter is concerned. The burner cone is in' two parts, the lower part being supported by the main structure of the burner and having an inner opening above the wick which is much too large for purposes of proper combustion. This lower. cone portion permits access to the Wick for cleaning and lighting purposes in a manner that is not possible where the burner cone is in a single piece. The burner cone .also includes an upper part carried by the stove casing which constitutes the chimney of the burner, so that when the casing is in a vertical position for use, the upper part of the burner cone rests upon the lower part so that when the casing is moved to its vertical position, said registering portions will center and accurately place the upper coneportion relatively to the wick so that'outer air is uniformly supplied circumferentially to the vaporized fuel.

In many instances of use of burners of the class described, it is of the utmost importance that no disagreeable odors or noxious g ses shall be delivered by the burner. With the burner construction thus far described, it has been found that, although the carbonaceous matter in the fuel is apparently completely consumed or burned because of the flame being of a purple or bluish color, products of combustion are apparently formed which are themselves combustible and which if delivered to atmosphere, impart dis agreeable odors and possibly noxious effects thereto. The present burner provides means for eliminating these undesirable odors and effects, as below described, including an annular passageway for auxiliary air, secured to the upper burner cone portion in a horizontal plane, near said upper burner cone portion, which passageway ,in-, cludes an annular member provided with a contralaperture somewhat larger in diameter than I the diameter of the opening in-the upper burner cone portion, said passageway being in free communication at its outer edge with the surrounding atmosphere, so that the action of the stove casing as a chimney will draw secondary air through said passageway, determined in amount by the vertical extent of said passageway, said secondary air being delivered around the annular heme and in such close proximity to the flame that the inner portion of the resulting annular column of said secondary or auxiliary air commingles with the outermost portion of the annular flame. The result of this construction and operation is that the fumes and the still combustible gaseousproducts resulting from the burning of the fuel, are

. erties.

stove casing without passing through the auxiliary air which is highly heated by the action of the flame, which produces the burning of said fumes and said still combustible gaseous products, so that disagreeable odors and noxious effects are eliminated from the gases discharged to the atmosphere.

The construction of said parent application in-' cludes an imperforate baffle of sheet metal horizontally disposed in the stove casing about midway between the burner and the openings provided in the upper portionpf the casing for the discharge of the gases of combustion, said baffle having a diameter substantially larger than the diameter of the flame produced by the burner and being coaxially disposed with regard to the burner, a suflicient annular spacing being provided around the baflle inside of the stove casing to permit the free flow of gases of combustion in the casing and around the edge of the bafiie. The baffle functions both withthe stove structure and the burner and performs two functions: first, it directs all of the gases of combustion outwardly so that they impinge forcibly against the side wall of the stove casing mid-way between the lower and upper portions of the casing, so that'a highly heated band of the casing is provided around the baflie, which highly heated band in turn radiates heat to a corresponding degree into the air around the stove, thus discharging a large part of the heatdeveloped by the stove, laterally from the stove into the space heated by it; second, the annular column of highly heated gases of combustion flowing upwardly from the flame, surrounded by the annular envelope of auxiliary air, strikes the lower surface of the baffle with considerable velocity, which results in a burner action thoroughly commingling, the gases of combustion produced by the annular flame, with the auxiliary air. The baflle, being directly over the flame, is highly heated thereby and a temperature is maintained in the zonebelow the baifle which is sufllcient to complete the burning of any fumes and still combustible gaseous products that may not have been previously burned, and this insures the delivery from the upper portion of the chimney or casing of the stove, of products of combustion free from odor and having no noxious prop- The results described are secured without unduly cooling the fuel vapor and without ap- 4 tube of the burner is enlarged around the wick operating mechanism and supports internally a spur gear meshing with the rack bar, said spur gear being substantially in a vertical plane and being rigidly secured to the inner end of a short horizontal shaft extending radially through the outer wick tube and rigidly carrying at its outer end an operating handle or disc. The outer wick tube has projecting inwardly therefrom suitable guide members to hold the rack bar in mesh with the spur gear. In this manner the raising and lowering of the wick is effected by both an angular movement and an axial movement, which operating arrangement is found to be much more effective and accurate than where it is attempted to operate thewick by axial movement only. To limit the movement of the wick, a stop is provided on the lower end of the rack bar, to prevent 1 moving the wick upwardly relatively to the burner preciably decreasing the efficiency of the stove "and burner, byproviding the said,passageway of saidauxiliary air passageway thus constitute important parts of the present burner structure in cooperation with the chimney of the burner.

The effective operation of the burner in the manner described, requires proper wick adjustment, which is insured by the particular wick and wick operating mechanism employed as a part of the burner construction. The tubular wick is provided, below its burning portion, with a thin sheet metal tubular carrier which is rigidly secured to the wick, said carrier having secured thereto rack bar extending angularly and also axially of the carrier tube, the rack bar having a helical conformation, and disposition when mounted on the tubular carrier. The outer wick beyond a desired extent, for example, the lower part of the rack bar may be suitably enlarged the rack bar and the spur gear.

below the position required to extinguish the flame, and low enough so that the wick might drop into the reservoir, the outer 'wickltube is provided with a, lower stop member in the path of a lug carried by the carrier tube of the Wick, so that when the wick is moved downwardly until the lug engages the stop member, further down- Ward movement of the wick is prevented. This takes care of the requirements for operating the wick and the burner in place on the reservoir, and to facilitate renewing the wick, the present invention provides a construction of lower stop member such that it does not function asa. stop member when the burner is removed from the reservoir, or in other words, with the burner removed from the reservoir, the wick may be moved downwardly relatively to the "burner, until it is entirely free from the burner and drops out, which greatly facilitates the operation of renew-5 ing the wick. To accomplish this result, the lower stop member is mounted on a spring band secured to and extending partly around the inner surface of the outer wick tube, and said stop member is provided withan outwardly extending cam for engagement with the opening in the top of the reservoir made to receive the burner. The

parts are so arranged that when the burner removed from-the reservoir, .the spring action of the spring band moves the stop member outwardly from the pathof movement of the stop lug carried by the carrier tube of the wick, andwhen the burner is placed. in operating position on the reservoir, the cam referred to presses the 7 lower stopmember inwardly against the spring action of the spring band and into the patliof said stop lug, to limit downward movement of the wick. In this manner the burner construction is made highly effective for operation to preierred embodiment thereof. inw hich:

erence to the accompanying drawings showing a 1 i "Fig. i is a vertical, central, sectional view through the stove,

Fig. 2 is a horizontal, sectional view of the burner of the stove taken along the line AL-'2 Figs. land 3,

Fig. '8 shows in a view similar to that shown in Fig. l and to an enlarged scale, the burner construction employed, excepting that in this view the wick and parts carried thereby are shown in front elevation, and the parts controlling the auxiliary air flow are shown raised from engagement with the burner,

"Fig. 4 is a horizontal, sectional view of a part of the structure shown in Fig. 3, taken along the lined-4 in Fig. 3, I

Fig. 5 shows in a view similar to Fig. 3 and to an enlarged scale, the position of the stop 'mech anism for the wick when the burner is removed :trom't-he reservoir, 7

- "Fig. '6 shows in a view similar to Fig. =5, the stop mechanism for -the wick in the position given it by mounting the burner on the reservoir,

Fig. '7 shows in side elevation and to an enlarged scale, with most of the outer wick tube removed, the wick and the parts carried thereby, as well as the stop for limiting downward move ment of the wick, and

' Fig. 8 shows in a view similar to Fig. 3, a modified form of auxiliary air passageway.

- Similar numerals refer to similar throughout'the several views. I As shown in Fig. 1, the stove consists of a tubular casing I mounted at its lower end on a fuel reservoir '2 "to which it is hinged at 3 atone edge of the lower end of the casing '50 that the casing may assume the vertical position for use indicated in Fig. l, or be moved to a horizontal position when it is desired to light the burner or clean the same or to remove the wick. A spring catch 4 is employed to hold the casing I invertic-a1 position against "accidental movement away from that position. The reservoir 2 is provided with downwardly extending feet 5 resting in a drip pan .6 to which they are secured by suitable .bayonet joint connections, the 'drip pa'n being spaced from the reservoir to permit the free flow of air around the lower edge of the reservoir "and between the reservoir and the drip pan *6, to supply the inner wick tube 1 extending vertically through the reservoir, with the inner air required to in part support combustion iofthe fuel vapor.

parts The wick tube 1 carries at its upper end .a perforated flame spreader I8 for directing th inner air outwardly into the fuel vapor delivered from the wick '9 surrounding the tube 1. eludes an outer "wick tube in supporting at its upper portion an annular member ll extending outwardly and supporting the lower portion 12 of the burner cone of th burner. The member 11 "is provided with an annular row of perforations Ha as indicated in the drawings, to supply the requisite outer air to the burner cone. The upper portion 13 of the burner cone rests upon the portion l2 when the stove is in operation, and said upper portion is rigidly secured by studs 'll to a"horizontally disposed annular member l5 which at its outer edge is provided with a tubular extension l5 terminating at its upper edge in an outwardly flanged portion 1 1 contained in .an annular groove 'formed by an annular angle member l8 rigidly secured to a cone shaped partition 19 diverging upwardly and rigidly and tightly secured at its upper edge to the casing 'l. The lower edge of the partition 1'9 that extends around the tubular portion It, is tubular "in form The burner in-- as at 2 0', and is si gutiyspseeaimmune tubular portion F6 to limit movement of the ennular member l5 and upper burner cone portion 13, relatively to th partition H3. The parts are so proportioned that when the "casing I is in ver tical position, the upper burner cone portion it rests on the lower cone portion l2, with the flanged member i'l raised above the lower portion of the partition t9, the described structure preventing accidental displacement of the annular member T5 and attached parts relatively to the partition I 9, when the casing 4 is moved to its horizontal position.

Just above the "mid-portion vertically of th casing an imperforate baffle 21 of sheet metal is mounted in horizontal position by a plurality of Supporting bars 22 secured at their lower ends to the partition I-9 and at the upper ends tosaid battle, the ba file bein preferably circular and of suflicientl-y smaller diameter than the casing 1 to permit the free passage of gases of combustion around the baffle tothe outlet openings 23 formed through the upper portion of the casing l. A handle 24 is provided for conveniently moving the stove fromone'loca-ticn to another.

"The casing I is provided just above the partition H! with a slight opening '25 having a transparent covering 26 'by which the condition of the flame may be observed during the operation of the stove, and below the partition IS the casing l is provided with a hand opening 27 permitting convenient access to the operating handle 28 of the wick raising mechanism.

As shown in Fig. '3, the wick 9 is provided-with a carrier tube 29 of thin sheet metal which is secured to said wick, and said tube has rigidly secured thereto a rack bar .30 extending cir cumferentially and axially of said tube so that the rack bar has a helical formation, said rack bar meshing with a spur gear 3| substantially in 'a vertical plane and secured to the inner end of a short shaft 32 supported in horizontal and radial position by the outer wic'k tube ll], and having the operating handle or disc .28 rigidly secured to its outer end. Suitable guide pins or members 32a extend inwardly from the outer wick tube, to engage the rack bar 33 and hold it in mesh with the spur gear "31, (see Figs. 5, l) and 7). When the, burner is mounted .onthe reservoir 2, an outwardly extending flange "33 rests upon the reservoir and has. bayonet joint engagement with said reservoir as shown in Fig. .2, to hold the burner in place, at which time aspring stop member 34 is held inwardly by a cam rnember.35 engaging the opening in the top of the reservoir 2, so that said stop member is in the path of '2. lug 35 carried by the carrier tube :29, 'to limit downward movement of the wick l9 by operation of the handle 28. This condition of the wick is more clearly illustrated in Fig. 6, and as illustrated in Fig. 5., when the burner is removed from the reservoir 2, the spring action of the stop member .34 :moves said stop member from the path of the lug 36 so that the wick may move freely downwardly until it is entirely released from the burner. I

As shown in Fig. 4, the spring stop '34 comprises a strip of spring metal carrying at its free end and projecting through and outside 'of the tube HLthe cam member 3 5, said stop mem her being rigidly secured at its other endto the inner surface of the lower portion of the "tube ID, so that the stop member may move "freely inwardly to the position indicated in "dottedlines "in'Fig'. 4-toi'ts wick stopping position, when the burner ismounted'on the reservoir. The relation of the wick and the parts carried thereby,

as well as the relation of the stop member to the lug on the carrier tube of the wick, are more clearly shown in Fig. '7 which also illustrates the manner of preventing extreme upward movement of the wick by the enlargement on the lower end of the rack bar to prevent further relative movement between the rack bar and the spur with the cone member I3 and the member I5 controlling the flow of auxiliary air to the exterior of the annular flame for the purposes referred to, the casing and attached parts being shown in this figure at the beginning in their movement from the vertical position of the casing to its horizontal position, to more clearly illustrate the clearance opening inside of the lower burner cone portion I2 for .cleaning and lighting purposes, when the casing is moved to its horizontal position. This figure also illustrates the mannet of supporting the said members I3 and I5 from the partition I9 against the possibility of displacement from proper aligning position with the lower burner cone portion I2, when the casing I is moved to its horizontal position. The auxiliary air supply provided for by the members I3. and I5 in addition to securing'the advantages above described, serves to a substantial extent to cool the parts of the burner and stove construction without appreciably interfering with the heating efficiency of the stove.

In constructing the stove, the height of the casing from the burner and above the partition I9 to the outlet openings 23 is important, to the .end that a proper chimney or draft effect may be exerted upon the burner, in addition to pro- ,ducing the influx of auxiliary air between the parts I3 and I5. In other words, with the con- "struction described, the check draft effect of the inflowing air between the parts I3 and I5, does not reduce the chimney drafton the flame below its optimum value. Where the draft on the flame is too great, the effect is to produce a relatively small visible flame of a steel blue color, and the combustionis frequently so vigorous as to produce a noisy effect similar to that produced by a blast lamp; so this condition, although it produces complete combustion of the fuel, is undesirable on account of the noisy burning that is apt to be produced, and what is even more important, on account of the excess air cooling the products of combustion and resulting in inefiicient heating by means of the stove. On the other hand, where the draft on the flame is too small, the flame is relatively high and contains more or less yellow spots indicating incomplete combustion of the carbonaceous matter in the fuel, so that, although the burning is relatively slow and noiseless, this condition also produces inefficient heating by the stove. When the draft on the flame is correct in amount, both of the conditions referredto are avoided, the flame is of medium height and of a purplish or bluish color and free from yellow spots, indicating complete combustion, of the carbonaceous matter in the fuel without the use 8. of 'excess'air, and efiicientheating by the stove is the result. This illustrates the importance ofproducing a definite total draft by the casin of the stove, that will secure the correct amount of draft on the flame and that will at the same time induce the correct amount of air flow through the auxiliaryair passage, to operate in the manner described to free the gases deliveredfrom the stove, from disagreeable odors and noxious effects. In the practical operation of the stove, the burner flame may in some cases be increased in size to such an extent, by raising the wick too high, that small streamers of yellow flame develop, indicating that a small amount of carbonaceous matter is unburnedby the combined air introduced to the flame from the flame spreader 8 and under the cone portions I2 and I3. In such cases it is found that the continuous envelope of air that is produced around the flame by the auxiliary air from under the annular member I5, effects the complete. burning of said small streamers of carbonaceous matter, and avoids the discharge of undesirable odors through the openings 23 at the top of the casing I, whereby the invention protects the. user. of the stove from undesirable effects, even in such cases of improper operation of the stove.

In Fig. 8 we illustrate a modified construction of auxiliary air passageway, in which the lower .wall of said passageway is formed by an annular member 38 spaced below the member I5 and above the upper cone portion I3, the members 38 and I3 being secured to the member I5 by. studs I4 as indicated. The spacing of the members I5 and 38 from each other, is such as to impart to the auxiliary air passageway the optimum vertical extent required for most eilec: tive operation of the stove, said passageway being, open to atmosphere at its outer edge. This construction may be used Where it is desirable. to have the auxiliary air passageway independent of the burner cone, and where it is desired to deliver the auxiliary air to the flame of the burner or to the gases of com-bustion, a small. distance above the burner cone. In other respects, the stove and burner construction may be the same as above described.

In a practicalembodiment of the invention described, the following approximate dimensions were employed: The casing had a diameterof 10%", the vertical distance from the top of the burner to the bottom of the outlet openings 23 was 15 /2, and the diameter of the baffle 2| was 6", said baffle being located 9%" above the top of the burner. The wick had an outside diam; eter of 3 the diameter of the opening in the lower portion 12 of the burner cone was substantially 3%", the diameter of the opening in the upper portion I3 01 the burner cone was substantially 3 and the diameter of the opening in the annular member I5 was substantially 3%". With these dimensions and using kerosene as fuel, a highly heated band was produced on the casing around the baflle 2| having a height of about 3 or 4 and a temperature of about 600 F., the temperature of the casing at its upper end portion being at the same time from 350" to 400 F., and the gases delivered from the outlet openings 23 were not hot enough for cooke ing purposes. The efiect of the highly heated band of the casing around the ballle 2| was to radiate a substantial amount of heat laterally from the stove to give a feeling of warmth to the space around the stove considerably before the entire space was heated by the stove.

While we have shown our invention in the particular embodiment above described, we do not limit ourselves thereto as we may employ equivalents thereof without departing from the scope of the appended claims.-

What we claim is:-

1. As a means for completely burning liquid fuel, the combination in a burner of the annular flame type of means for producing an .annular flame including inner air supply means, a burner frame, aburner cone having in use a stationary support from said frame and being independent of said flame producing means and defining a passage for supplying a predetermined main quantity of outer air to said fiamefan annular member parallel with and spaced above said burner cone and in cooperation with said burner cone defining an annular auxiliary air passage means materially smaller than said first passage around and adjacent to the inner air supply means of the burner and terminating outwardly of said flame producing means for discharging auxiliary air in materially smaller quantity than said main quantity inwardly and around said inner air supply means, and means rigidly connecting said burner cone and said annular'memher and maintaining said annular member a fixed distance from said burner cone.

2. As a means for completely burning liquid fuel, the combination in a burner of the annular flame type of means for producing an annular member parallel with and spaced .above said burner cone and in cooperation with said burner cone defining an annular auxiliary passage means materially smaller than said; first passage around and adjacent to the inneriiair supply means ofthe burner and terminating outwardly of said flame producing means for' discharging auxiliary air in materially smaller quantity than said main quantity inwardly and around said inner air supply means, means rigidl connecting said burner cone and said annular member and maintaining said annular member a fixed dis--' tance from said burner cone, said burner cone having a central opening of substantially larger diameter than said inner air supplyfmeans, and said annular member having a central opening coaxial with and of substantially larger diameter than the central opening in said burner cone.

WALTER B. ENGH. CORTLAND W. DAVIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this :patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 409,639 Goodspeed Aug. 20, 1889 1,188,780 Hoffman June 27, 1916 1,471,543 Chadwick Oct. 23, 1923 1,846,084, Breed Feb. 23, 1932 2,011,982 Richardson Aug. 20, 1935 2,210,861 Strong Aug. 6, 1940 2,216,877 Davis et a1. Oct. 8, 1940 2,259,246 Davis et a1. Oct. 14, 1941 2,271,076 Hupter Jan. 27, 1942 

